Abrasive device for finishing paint brushes



Dec. 17, 1968 Q. HA N 3,416,262

ABRASIVE DEVICE FOR FINISHING PAINT BRUSHES Filed Nov. 10, 1965 3Sheets-Sheet 1 J. HAZELTON ABRASIVE DEVICE FOR FINISHING PAINT BRUSHESDec. 17, 1968 S-Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov.

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Dec. 17, 1968 H. J. HAZELTON 3,416,262

ABRASIVE DEVICE FOR FINISHING PAINT BRUSHES Filed Nov. 10, 1965 5Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,416,262 ABRASIVE DEVICE FORFINISHING PAINT BRUSHES Harold J. Hazelton, Batavia, Ill., assignor toCarlson Tool & Machine-Cm, a corporation of Illinois Filed Nov. 10,1965, Ser. No. 507,213 3 Claims. (Cl. 5180) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Abrush finishing device in the form of an abrasive drum having a sinuousexterior, generally of a sign wave configuration, the drum preferablybeing utilized by two such drums being tandem mounted in ofisetrelationship with respect to one another on opposite sides of a path ofbrush travel, the two drums being driven in opposite directions relativeto each other to toughen the bristles of brush fed through the path ofbrush travel.

This invention relates to abrasive devices and more particularly to anovel abrasive drum well suited for finishing bristle-like articles suchas brushes and the like.

In the manufacture of articles such as paint brushes which have eitherartificial or natural hair-like bristles, it is, often desirable tosubject the tapered end of the brushes to a finishing operation, so asto impart a fuzzlike finish to all of the bristles which is especiallydesirable in paint brushes for giving the brushes improved paint holdingand paint application qualities. Often, abrasive devices performing thisfunction actually work only on the outermost bristles and then fail toengage the entire circumference of the free end of each bristle.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a newand improved abrasive means for finishing fibrous articles.

It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improvedabrasive drum for finishing the free ends of brush bristles which isprovided with a configuration capable of engaging substantially theentire surface of the free ends of all brush bristles as the brush ismoved along the drum.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedabrasive drum for finishing brush bristles having an undulated exteriorwhich causes the brush bristles to progressively fan out and compact asa brush is moved axially of the drum with the free ends of the bristlesin engagement with the periphery of the drum.

Yet another object of thi s invention is to provide a new and improvedbrush finishing machine for abrasively finishing substantially all ofthe free end surfaces of all the bristles of both sides of a brush.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description of the preferred embodimentsillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a brush finishing machineutilizing the finishing means of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the machine shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section view taken along the line 33 of FIGURE 1 showingthe lateral offset of the tandem mounted abrasive drums with respect toeach other and showing a brush moved through a path which is medial withrespect to the axes of the drums;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the relative positionof a brush and first drum shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to 3,416,262 PatentedDec. 17, 1968 FIGURE 4 showing therelative position of a brush and thesecond drum shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE, 6 is a fragmentary enlarged view partially broken away insection of the novel abrasive drum of this invention and illustratingthe various stages of=engagement between the brush bristles and theundulated exterior of the abrasive drum; and v FIGURE 7 is a fragmentaryenlarged sectional view showing the sectional configuration of theundulating wall of the novel abrasive drum of this invention.

The brush finishing unit 10 illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 includes agenerally indicated frame 12 having brush finishing accessories 14mounted on the frame by means 15 which permits vertical andhorizontalmovement of the accessories relative to the frame. Preferablythe accessories are mounted in tandem in the same general horizontalplane and slightly laterally offset with res pect to their longitudinalaxes.

The accessories 14 are provided for performing a finishing operation onbrushes 16, and in particular, upon the bristles 16a held in the brushhandle or heel 1611, as they are fed by a conveyor means 18 through theunit 10 past the finishing accessories 14. A driven shaft 20 which isdriven by a motor means 21 is provided for supplying power to drive theconveyor means 18 for advancing the brushes through the unit.

Each finishing accessory 14 includes a housing 22 having an exahust duct22a for carrying away abrasive dust and the like. An accessory driveshaft 24 is rotatably mounted within the housing and driven by a motormeans 26 through a. pulley and belt means generally indicated 28 shownin dotted outline in FIGURE 1. The abrasive drum 30 of this invention ismounted within the housing on the shaft 24 by a collar and set screw 30aand 32a, respectively.

With reference to FIGURES 3, 4 and 5, the conveyor means 18 may includetwo opposed driven bolts 34, each mounted on a conveyor base 36 anddefining a brush driving channel between the belts. A housing 38 may beprovided for enclosing the belt assemblies. The brushes are advanced bythe facial engagement of the opposed faces of the brush heel or handle16b with the opposed parallel faces of the driven belts to move thebrushes longitudinally of the unit or axially with respect to the shafts24 of the abrasive drum.

Each drum 30 comprises a hollow cylinder 40 having end walls 42 spacedslightly inwardly of each end of the cylinder. The end Walls areprovided with openings 42a in which the collar 30 is positioned forfixing the drums to the accessory drive shaft 24.

Each cylinder has an undulated exterior which consists of annularrelieved portions 48 and raised portions 50 formed generallyconcentrically about the shaft and parallel to each other in planeswhich are generally perpendicular to the shaft 24. Preferably the raisedportions all have the same diameter and the relieved portions likewisehave the same diameter. The raised and relieved portions are joined by asmooth interconnecting frustoconical section 52 so that, as illustratedin FIGURE 7, a section view through the wall of the cylinder 40 shows aconfiguration which is similar to the well-known sine wave.

The exterior of the cylinder 40 is coated with an abrasive material,preferably a nickel clad tungsten carbide. As the brushes are moved inthe direction of the arrow A in FIGURE 6, or axially relative to theaxes of the drums, and the drums are rotated as illustrated by thearrows B and C in FIGURES 3 through 6, the brush bristles traverse theundulated exterior of the abrasive drum 30 in such a fashion as toexpose substantially the entire surace of the free ends of the bristleto the abrasive action of the drum.

Preferably, two such drums are mounted as shown in the drawings so thattheir axes of rotation are positioned on opposite sides of the brush 16as it is fed by the conveying means through the brush finishing machine.Furthermore, one of the drums is rotated in a clockwise direction asindicated by arrow C in FIGURES 5 and 6, and the other drum is driven ina counterclockwise direction as indicated by the arrow B in FIGURES 3and 4. This, in combination with the offset of the drums relative to thecenter line of the brush feeding channel, causes the brushes to beflipped to one side when advanced past the periphery of the first drumand then flipped to the other side when advanced past the periphery ofthe second drum so that both sides of the brush bristles are exposed tothe unique abrasive action of the abrasive drum of this invention.

With particular reference to FIGURES 3 through 6, as the brushes are fedaxially relative to the shafts 24, each brush will first contact theperiphery of one of the laterally offset drums which will cause thebrush bristles to be flipped or fanned to one side as shown in FIGURES 3and 4 where the drum is driven in a counterclockwise direction indicatedby arrow B. As the brush is further advanced in the direction indicatedby the arrow A, it will travel beyond the first laterally ofiset drumand con tact the second later-ally offset drum which is rotated in theopposite direction as indicated by arrow C. This will cause the bristlesto be flipped to the other side of the path of brush travel.

As the brush bristles are fed axially along the periphery of eachrotating drum, the bristles are subjected to an action which is shown inFIGURE 6. When the bristles are positioned relative to the drum so thata raised portion 50 is generally midway of the bristles, the bristlesdrape downwardly along the two adjacent connecting portions 52 asillustrated by the brush 16' in FIGURE 6. As the brushes are furthermoved in the direction indicated by arrow A, so that the leading edge ofthe brush begins moving across the recessed portion 48 and up hilltoward the next raised portion 50 along section 52, the bristles willtend to compact along the leading edge while still being fanned outalong the trailing edge as indicated by brush 16". Then as the brushadvances so that it again effectively straddles a raised portion 50 withleading edge portions draped over both adjacent sections 52, thebristles will have the same position relative to the drum as formerlydescribed and as shown by brush 16'.

It has been found that with the use of a rotating drum having thisconfiguration approximating a sine wave, as the bristles are advancedpast the periphery of the drum the compacting and fanning out of thebristles exposes all of the bristles to the drum periphery and furthertends to twist the bristles so that the entire circumference of the freeend of each bristle is exposed to the bristle exterior. It has beenfurther found that by laterally offsetting the tandem related drums anddriving them in opposite directions so that the bristles are flippedfirst to one side and then to the other to be subjected to the finishingaction of these drums that an even more thorough uniform abrasive actionis obtained on each bristle of the brush. Thus with this type of anabrasive drum for the first time a brush, such as a paint brush, may besubjected to a finish ing operation wherein the entire peripheral extentof the free ends of all of the brush bristles, from the innermost to theoutermost of such bristles, will be subjected to the finishing action ofthe drum so that the desired fuzzy or velvet-like feel and appearancecan be imparted to these bristle ends to provide paint brushes ofimproved paint holding and paint applicating qualities.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness ofunderstanding only, and no unnecessary lim itations should be understoodtherefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in theart.

I claim:

1. A brush finishing machine, comprising: a frame; conveyor means onsaid frame for carrying brushes through a brush finishing path; firstand second rotatably driven drums on said frame in tandem relation toeach other, both drums being positioned so that portions of theperipheries of each drum intersects the brush finishing path to engagebrush bristles of a brush carried therethrough, each of said drumshaving an uninterrupted sinuous exterior coated with an abrasivematerial; one of said drums mounted for rotation on an axis which islaterally otfset to one side of the brush finishing path; the other ofsaid drums mounted for rotation on an axis which is laterially offset tothe other side of the brush finishing path.

2. The brush finishing machine of claim 1 wherein one of said drums isdriven in clockwise direction and the other of said drums is driven incounterclockwise direction so that opposite sides of the brush bristleswill be finished by said drums as the brushes are moved through saidbrush finishing path.

3. A brush finishing machine, comprising: a frame; conveyor means onsaid frame for carrying brushes through a brush finishing path; arotatably driven drum on said frame, said drum being positioned so thatportions of the periphery of said drum intersect the brush finishingpath to engage brush bristles of a brush carried therethrough, said drumhaving an uninterrupted sinuous abrasive exterior with arcuate raisedand arcuate relieved portions; said drum being mounted on the frame forrotation on an axis which is laterally offset to one side of the brushfinishing path.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 424,763 4/ 1890 Cunningham 5 l2061,937,795 12/1933 Sheehan 51-80 2,064,406 12/ 1936 Bialkowsky 5l802,227,126 12/ 1940 Cooke 51207 2,365,396 12/ 1944 Cunningham 51922,685,477 8/1954 Baumgartner 5176 X 2,770,079 1 1/ 6 Baumgartner 51742,982,006 5/1961 Booth. 3,013,364 12/1961 Hovorka 5l--281 X 3,306,669 2/1967 Christensen 51-206 X 3,350,816 11/ 1967 Breeding 51--80 FOREIGNPATENTS 406,784 3/1934 Great Britain.

HAROLD D. WHITEHEAD, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 5l281, 206

